Looking to upgrade computer, need some help...

[mjdgoldeneye]

Hey, everybody.

 

I am looking to upgrade my computer. I will say right now that I do not have a huge budget and that I am and have always been a few years behind the curve as far as technology goes.

 

I am simply looking to bring my computer up to the point where it can run programs like Team Fortress 2 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0 smoothly on medium to high settings.

 

Currently, I can run Portal on medium to low settings with a bit of lagginess hen I move the mouse. It isn't crippling, but I want it to run solidly. Premiere runs too, but it's slow and tends to lock up occasionally.

 

Here's my current specs:

 

Processor:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+

Socket 939

90nm, 1.424V

~2.2GHz single-core

 

Motherboard:

ASUSTek Amberine M 1.03

w/PCI Express x16

 

Memory:

DDR, Dual, 1536MB

2x 512MB, 2x 256MB = ~1.5GB total

 

Graphics:

Radeon X1550 , 256MB

 

So... Yea...

 

Pretty much everything I have is a step behind (or more). I can't get much better with a 939 socket or regular DDR memory, so I'll need a new motherboard.

 

My main concern is the technical bits like voltage and the size/connecting bits of components.

 

After perusing eBay for a bit, I can find motherboard/CPU combos for about $115 that come with varying 2.9GHZ dual/triple/quad core processors and semi-decent on-board GPUs that are better than what I have. However, I don't know what I should be worrying about. What kind of power concerns should I have? Do I have to worry about my HDD connecting to the motherboard?

 

What do I need to know? What's good and what should I avoid?

 

I want to know if for between $150 and $200 I can get a decent (by my standards) motherboard and RAM (and GPU if the motherboard doesn't come with an acceptable one) that can do what I ask. I think a 3.0ish GHz processor (any # of cores) and 2-4 GBs of RAM is enough for my purposes. What's the best value for the money?

 

If I haven't provided enough information, don't be afraid to ask. I have a tendency to assume too much, so I can clear whatever you need to know up.

 

For the record, I very rarely upgrade. My computers normally last me 5 years+. I think I've had my current computer since 9th grade (give or take a year) and I'm currently a freshman in college. I don't need a crazy rig.

[ampulator]

how about a laptop? Simple and easy.

[shamelessposer]

I'd suggest that you just save up a little bit longer, as the stuff you want to do isn't affordable in the $200 price range. Most of those components are at least a full generation behind the curve, and any attempt to integrate them into a "new" system will probably just prevent upgrades further down the road. If you can scrape together about $450 or $500, you can put together a respectable system that should last you a few years.

 

Sidenote: The motherboard's onboard GPU is not acceptable, regardless of the motherboard you're buying. This is a fact of life, and any ad copy that says otherwise is probably lying to you.

[mjdgoldeneye]

how about a laptop? Simple and easy.

 

No. We're talking desktops. The laptop equivalent to a desktop is naturally more expensive as they're portable. I don't have a $1300 budget to get a half decent laptop. I said $200 desktop upgrade, you come in with laptop. Come on, man...

 

I'd suggest that you just save up a little bit longer, as the stuff you want to do isn't affordable in the $200 price range. Most of those components are at least a full generation behind the curve, and any attempt to integrate them into a "new" system will probably just prevent upgrades further down the road. If you can scrape together about $450 or $500, you can put together a respectable system that should last you a few years.

 

Sidenote: The motherboard's onboard GPU is not acceptable, regardless of the motherboard you're buying. This is a fact of life, and any ad copy that says otherwise is probably lying to you.

 

I'm going to upgrade one way or another. Keep in mind that if I upgrade again, I'd be starting from scratch with a brand new system. I don't need to be up-to-date. I just need to me a little further ahead than 2006.

 

On eBay, I've found acceptable motherboard/CPU combos for $100-$120 (maybe $160) and I know serviceable video cards are $50-90 and that you can get 4GB of RAM for about $60. That's manageable.

 

Say I had about $320 and I'm willing to buy used. Then, assume I did have $400ish.

 

As for on-board GPU's, I've seen some listings that had Radeon HD 4000 sets. They're what I'm considering buying anyway (or around there). Do you realize how awful an X1550 is? I can still run Portal with it (somehow).

 

Also, ha ha... Ad copy... I'm not looking to buy from Dell/BestBuy or something.

[Remianen]

After perusing eBay for a bit, I can find motherboard/CPU combos for about $115 that come with varying 2.9GHZ dual/triple/quad core processors and semi-decent on-board GPUs that are better than what I have. However, I don't know what I should be worrying about. What kind of power concerns should I have? Do I have to worry about my HDD connecting to the motherboard?

 

I'd suggest that you just save up a little bit longer, as the stuff you want to do isn't affordable in the $200 price range. Most of those components are at least a full generation behind the curve, and any attempt to integrate them into a "new" system will probably just prevent upgrades further down the road. If you can scrape together about $450 or $500, you can put together a respectable system that should last you a few years.

 

Sidenote: The motherboard's onboard GPU is not acceptable, regardless of the motherboard you're buying. This is a fact of life, and any ad copy that says otherwise is probably lying to you.

 

I bolded this bit because it cannot be emphasized enough. DO NOT rely on onboard graphics. There's a saying amongst (enthusiast level) techies: Friends don't let friends use onboard graphics.

 

poser is wise. Don't half ass this. If you're looking to get a rig that's going to last you some years (and honestly, your current rig is going to need complete replacement within the next 18-24 months, guaranteed), do it right. Look at this rig. $750 and it'll last you three years minimum. So, do you really want to drop $200 on a couple of currently outdated components when you could save up some and get an entire rig that'll last you well into grad school?

 

Someone I frequently consult on these types of topics (since I'm more apt to shoot for the top of the scale, not even paying attention to the 'mid market' offerings), is rabb1t, an old friend from Lineage 2 and Auto Assault (his column is here). Back in 2007 when I built this computer (specs), he gave me some advice that I followed (deviating only when it came to video card, buying the 8800 Ultra rather than the 8600 or something he advised) and this computer can still play today's games at full settings with little to no issue. I lose about 22 fps when I turn ambient occlusion on in City of Heroes (Ultra Mode) but that doesn't bother me because ambient occlusion sucks and I don't use it.

 

Now, the first thing you're going to say is "I don't need a gaming PC" and I'll say, perhaps but it's good to have one just in case. If you're buying a truck, are you going to buy the pretty one that couldn't haul or tow a Mini Cooper.....or the big dawg that could carry a forest of trees on its back? Today's gaming PC will run tomorrow's Adobe Premiere Elements AND Team Fortress 2....at the same time.

 

I'd say save up and maybe bite the bullet and come up to more recent specs rather than putting what amounts to a new transmission, in a Pinto. You're looking for more than simply 'A to B' (i.e. web surfing, email, word processing) functionality now, after all.

[ampulator]

The thing is, if he wants to something that will last him a while, he's going to give out more cash than he wants to.

 

If that's the case, save up more money. I can go into full detail, but you are NOT going to like the price range.

 

Like Remianen said, save up money and get something better.

[LoganRodzen]

Is your PC running OK besides it not being able to run some of the programs you want? With the specs you listed I don't see any reason why you can't keep your current setup and just upgrade your RAM and video card. The single core processor is surely behind the times but if the hardware you have is working and your budget is low I'd upgrade the bits and pieces that will give you instant improvement.

 

The biggest issue you have is the 1.5GB. Not so much the size because 1.5gigs can run a system perfectly fine (besides Win7/Vista) - the problem is how you have it spread out with the four different sticks. That alone can slow it down by having different manufacturers. It's best (not necessary) to have the same type of RAM in all of your slots.

 

Here is the cheapest and best system I could find on GlobalComputer.com - this is where my father and I order hardware for customers. Global owns TigerDirect - you've probably heard of them. The only downside to that system above is that you'd need to install your own OS and if you don't already own a copy that's even more $$$.

 

If you went with the RAM and video card upgrade - try and get at least 2GB RAM and a 512MB video card. You'd be in good shape with that. What OS are you currently running anyway? If you plan on running XP the video card and RAM upgrade is your very best bet in my opinion. If you're going to be using Vista or Windows 7 then you're in a tough spot because you'd need more advanced hardware that you simply cannot get without a bigger budget.

 

Your budget is not ideal, but it isn't impossible either.

[ampulator]

Yeah, but with his budget, he might as well save up to get something better.

[mjdgoldeneye]

I bolded this bit because it cannot be emphasized enough. DO NOT rely on onboard graphics. There's a saying amongst (enthusiast level) techies: Friends don't let friends use onboard graphics.

 

What's wrong with them? Are they not as good as the external equivalent?

 

poser is wise. Don't half ass this. If you're looking to get a rig that's going to last you some years (and honestly, your current rig is going to need complete replacement within the next 18-24 months, guaranteed), do it right.

 

No, probably not. I've gone much longer without problems. New software comes out? I just don't buy it. I do not have much income to work with.

 

Look at this rig. $750 and it'll last you three years minimum. So, do you really want to drop $200 on a couple of currently outdated components when you could save up some and get an entire rig that'll last you well into grad school?

 

I don't know if I'm going to head into grad school. If I could afford it, I wouldn't be having this conversation. I'll be ass deep in debt from my plain old BS.

 

$750 is sort of acceptable, but we'll see how that goes. (More on this later.)

 

Someone I frequently consult on these types of topics (since I'm more apt to shoot for the top of the scale, not even paying attention to the 'mid market' offerings), is rabb1t, an old friend from Lineage 2 and Auto Assault (his column is here). Back in 2007 when I built this computer (specs), he gave me some advice that I followed (deviating only when it came to video card, buying the 8800 Ultra rather than the 8600 or something he advised) and this computer can still play today's games at full settings with little to no issue. I lose about 22 fps when I turn ambient occlusion on in City of Heroes (Ultra Mode) but that doesn't bother me because ambient occlusion sucks and I don't use it.

 

Now, the first thing you're going to say is "I don't need a gaming PC" and I'll say, perhaps but it's good to have one just in case. If you're buying a truck, are you going to buy the pretty one that couldn't haul or tow a Mini Cooper.....or the big dawg that could carry a forest of trees on its back? Today's gaming PC will run tomorrow's Adobe Premiere Elements AND Team Fortress 2....at the same time.

 

I'd say save up and maybe bite the bullet and come up to more recent specs rather than putting what amounts to a new transmission, in a Pinto. You're looking for more than simply 'A to B' (i.e. web surfing, email, word processing) functionality now, after all.

 

The main issue is that I don't think I can save fast enough to keep up with the market. I'm in a totally screwed up financial situation at the moment and I'll really need to go into rags-to-riches mode to work out the cash.

 

I've got a work study job that pays $7.25 an hour and I can only make up to $3000 a year with it. I've been seeking a real job, but it's been mind bogglingly impossible lately (even for the bad economy). On top of that, I don't have a driver's license because I'd be cutting it close trying to pay for insurance (not as bad as I once thought) and gas.

 

I'm still sort of a position that I can literally blow all of my money on something and not be completely screwed, but this summer I'm only going to be able to fit about 18 hours a week in. (Actually, realistically, I run out of work to do after about 20 minutes every day. They'd probably become some sort of frustrated with me playing Bloons Tower Defense 4 for 6 hours at a time 5 days a week if I went in more...) So, if I saved every cent of what I make, I'll need about 7 or 8 weeks of work to get a reasonable $750 system and still find a way to pay for book come next semester probably the license I'm working on.

 

The prudent economist would say "That sucks, man" and and just try to deal with what he's got (and that's kind of how I've always done it), but, for a change, I feel like experiencing a PC game that isn't years and years old. (I still avidly play Civilization IV and to a lesser extent Age of Empires II...) Plus, I'm a computer science major. I can do any of my assignments with no problem with what I've got, but it seems incredibly out of place to be the only guy with a 5 year old XP machine as his only system when everyone has overclocked laptops running Windows 7, Ubuntu, and whatever the newest Mac OS is on separate partitions of the same 2TB HDD...

 

I've put "Apply for a spot on Jeopardy! or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" on my financial plan. I'd totally wreck on those shows.

 

Alas, I'm not surprised you've come to the same conclusion I have. Curse my brutally expensive desires!

[mjdgoldeneye]

Is your PC running OK besides it not being able to run some of the programs you want? With the specs you listed I don't see any reason why you can't keep your current setup and just upgrade your RAM and video card. The single core processor is surely behind the times but if the hardware you have is working and your budget is low I'd upgrade the bits and pieces that will give you instant improvement.

 

The biggest issue you have is the 1.5GB. Not so much the size because 1.5gigs can run a system perfectly fine (besides Win7/Vista) - the problem is how you have it spread out with the four different sticks. That alone can slow it down by having different manufacturers. It's best (not necessary) to have the same type of RAM in all of your slots.

 

Here is the cheapest and best system I could find on GlobalComputer.com - this is where my father and I order hardware for customers. Global owns TigerDirect - you've probably heard of them. The only downside to that system above is that you'd need to install your own OS and if you don't already own a copy that's even more $$$.

 

If you went with the RAM and video card upgrade - try and get at least 2GB RAM and a 512MB video card. You'd be in good shape with that. What OS are you currently running anyway? If you plan on running XP the video card and RAM upgrade is your very best bet in my opinion. If you're going to be using Vista or Windows 7 then you're in a tough spot because you'd need more advanced hardware that you simply cannot get without a bigger budget.

 

Your budget is not ideal, but it isn't impossible either.

 

My computer can't even run Windows 7. I've got an install disk waiting for the magical day I need it.

 

I'd say save up and maybe bite the bullet and come up to more recent specs rather than putting what amounts to a new transmission, in a Pinto. You're looking for more than simply 'A to B' (i.e. web surfing, email, word processing) functionality now, after all.

 

Also, I am well aware of the Pinto's terribleness. My parents had a Pinto... and they got in a serious rear-end collision...

 

Miraculously, it didn't explode.

[ampulator]

Then save up your money to get a better system. If want something to last, that is.

[Remianen]

mjd, your situation isn't that bad. But given the circumstances, a laptop might not be such a bad idea. You could get one that would run circles around your current desktop, for $400 (on sale at somewhere like Wal-Mart or Best Buy). It wouldn't be the best available but it would be WORLDS better than what you currently have. Look at these.

 

And the problem with onboard graphics is that they're not 'real'. The memory you see listed as graphics memory is actually SYSTEM memory, allocated to video. It's SHARED memory, not DEDICATED. A video card (like folks typically refer to) has its own memory on the card so it doesn't need the system memory. It also tends to be much faster than system memory (which is another big minus for onboard graphics). Plus, whether you're using that onboard card or not, you're paying for it when you buy the motherboard (you don't think they're giving it to you for free, do you?).

 

That $750 system is a jumping point. Some things you can skimp on (the video card, for example. You don't need one that high end for your immediate uses. Take it down to a GeForce 9500 or Radeon 5450 and you're now at $650 total. Go down to an 8400 and you're at $600ish. You can replace it with a better one later when you want/need/can afford to).

[mjdgoldeneye]

I'm just going to hoard money and see what happens. I've never been a fan of laptops mainly because the wireless network in my house is completely screwed, I can't deal with the track pad, and I don't like having to worry about charging them.

 

Yea, I can plug an ethernet cable in, use a USB mouse, and keep it plugged into the wall, but why have a laptop then?

 

Anyway, are laptops suddenly cheaper compared the the desktop equivalent? Because, really, I don't need the portability. Wherever I am, I've got a computer. I just want my main system at home to be useful.

 

Also, on that link you posted, is 2.2GHz really enough processing power? Nearly every system on there except for the last few have a single 2.2GHz CPU.